Thursday, 21 March 2013

Kenya: Agriculture Finance Corporation to Give Farmers U.S.$23.3 Million in Loans




The Agricultural Finance Corporation is giving out more than Sh2 billion to farmers. The organisation is distributing money, whose aim is to boost food production, to farmers who applied for loans in various branches.
"We are ready to support farmers as usual," said managing director Lucas Meso. Schools with huge tracts of land will be eligible to get loans from the organisation to produce their own food.
The loans are offered at a discounted interest rate of 10 per cent annually. However, there has been an increase in the cost of farm inputs
Kenya Seed Company has increased maize seed prices by more than 30 per cent while the price of fertilizer has also gone up after the National Cereals and Produce Board failed to import the subsidised fertiliser.
"Its good that farmers are now accessing support from the AFC, but the government is letting them down by not acting on the issue of fertiliser and seeds", said Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo.
He said the increased costs will cut down productivity and profits for farmers making it difficult to repay the loans from AFC.AFC supports more than 35,000 farmers every year but is target more than 100,000 to help triple food production in all parts of Kenya.

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